1521: You Try To Fix It by Liz Ahl

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Slowdown — Episode 1521: "You Try To Fix It" by Liz Ahl
Date: May 22, 2026
Host: Maggie Smith

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Episode Overview

In this reflective episode of The Slowdown, host Maggie Smith explores the concept of "fixing" — both the literal act of repairing broken objects and the deeper emotional or relational work of facing the inside of our own or others’ "machines." Drawing on observations from daily life and Liz Ahl’s poem "You Try To Fix It," Smith contemplates our relationship with impermanence, the anxiety of confronting complexity, and the courage it takes to try, regardless of the outcome.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Planned Obsolescence and the Nature of Brokenness

• Main Idea: Maggie begins with a childhood memory of Willy Wonka’s everlasting gobstopper, contrasting it with the modern phenomenon of planned obsolescence — the intentional design of products to have shorter lifespans.
• Historical Example: She references the 1924 Phoebus Cartel, where lightbulb manufacturers conspired to cap product life, embedding "brokenness" as an intentional business model.
• Reflection:

  "These people used their power to create dependence, incorporating brokenness into the system." (02:04)

Introduction and Reading of the Poem

• Smith introduces Liz Ahl’s poem, "You Try To Fix It," as a counterpoint to systems designed to fail, highlighting efforts to repair and understand.
• She gently reads the poem in its entirety, inviting the listener into the intimate scene of watching someone attempt to fix a household object, reflecting on her own reluctance to undertake such tasks.

Notable Poem Excerpt:

"You take the thing apart to fix it... or not fixing it to at least know you tried, to at least know better some of its brokenness, to put your hands inside its workings..."
— Liz Ahl, read by Maggie Smith (03:10–04:15)

Personal Reflections and Metaphors

• Fear of Failure: Smith admits to often feeling "too afraid or lazy to take a thing apart," fearing mistakes or the uncertainty inside both objects and herself.
• Contrast in Approaches: She admires the fixer’s optimism and practicality — a willingness to try without the guarantee of success.
• Self as the Problem: Smith expands the metaphor, considering her own self-doubt about whether she is sometimes "the wrench" sabotaging her own life or neglecting relationships/mechanisms that need attention.
• Insightful Query:

  "Sometimes it feels like I'm a wrench inside my own machine... I don't want to open it up and look inside, don't want to touch the tiny wires and be reminded how little I understand about how anything works." (06:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Manufactured Dependence:

  "They intentionally design things inexpensive with an artificially limited lifespan, so they need to be replaced with a newer version. This business strategy has a name, planned obsolescence." (01:38)

• Admitting Pessimism:

  "I regret the trying in advance, fearful of the unknown insides of the thing, wanting a diagram, a special set of tools, a specified outcome." (04:52)

• Reluctance to Self-Examine:

  "I only know that when the machine hummed along, it seemed like I didn't need to understand anything." (06:38)

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Important Segments and Timestamps

• Planned Obsolescence Story: 01:31–02:17
• Introduction to Today's Poem: 02:17–03:10
• Poem Reading: 03:10–05:21
• Host’s Personal Reflection, Metaphor Expansion: 05:21–06:38

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Tone and Style

Maggie Smith maintains a gentle, contemplative, and slightly melancholic tone, offering both comfort and honest self-examination as she relates everyday observations to larger truths about hope, effort, and vulnerability. She makes accessible the emotional weight and universal questions nested in Liz Ahl’s poem.

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Summary Conclusion

This episode of The Slowdown uses a simple act — attempting to fix a broken object — as a portal into deeper reflections on optimism, risk, and the uncertainties inherent in trying to mend both things and relationships. Maggie Smith’s honest introspection, coupled with Liz Ahl’s evocative poem, invites listeners to find courage in the act of trying, even amid uncertainty. It's an episode that lingers, encouraging us all to look more gently and curiously, both at what’s broken and at ourselves.

Transcript

[A]

Anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder. At least half of us will experience a mental illness in our lifetime. In a new series of special reports from Call to Mind, we hear about the mental health impact of stress, climate change, immigration and more. Tune in for conversations with people managing hardship and experts seeking solutions. Listen to Call to Mind from American Public Media.

[B]

And Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[C]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[B]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[C]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[B]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[C]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[D]

I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the Slowdown.

[E]

As a child watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I remember being amazed by the everlasting gobstopper, a candy that

[D]

a child could suck on forever and it would never get any smaller. One of them would last a lifetime. In real life, manufacturers seem to do the opposite. They intentionally design things inexpensive with an artificially limited lifespan, so they need to be replaced with a newer version. This business strategy has a name, planned obsolescence. The strategy isn't new. We know it goes as far back as 1924, when an international group of light bulb manufacturers called called the Phoebus Cartel agreed to limit the lifespan of bulbs to around a thousand hours when they'd lasted much longer before. These people used their power to create dependence, incorporating brokenness into the system. Today's poem, though, was built to last. You try to fix it by Liz All. You take the thing apart to fix it. Its motor has failed. It was not inexpensive. Professional repair will cost as much as the thing itself. So you take the thing apart to fix it or not fixing it to at least know you tried, to at least know better some of its brokenness, to put your hands inside its workings where you might better see and know what happened, what could happen. You are optimistic and practical. I watch from the other side of the table. I who am too afraid or lazy to take a thing apart like that, too pessimistic to imagine I could fix it. I've seen you fix things not as I'd have fixed them. I've seen you fail to fix other things, but not regret the trying. I regret the trying in advance, fearful of the unknown insides of the thing, wanting a diagram a special set of tools, a specified outcome. You are willing to try to understand the thing with your hands, with the basic tools you've brought upstairs from the basement, where they live, mostly quiet lives. I watch you try to fix the thing, touching and scrutinizing again and again its innards of plastic and metal and insulated wire, its connections and solders, its secret failings. You are firm and gentle. You are curious, but not obsessively so. You want to fix the thing but realize you might not. You will know somehow how long to keep trying. Will you pause to think, as I do here at the other end of the table, about metaphors, about what it is you know so deeply, about seeing a thing, a person, as best you can with your optimistic, practical hands? I think of what I've broken, of what machines, gears. I've thrown the wrench of myself inside or just neglected to maintain and left for others to fix. And sometimes it feels like I'm a wrench inside my own machine. I don't want to open it up and look inside, don't want to touch the tiny wires and be reminded how little I understand about how anything works. I only know that when the machine hummed along, it seemed like I didn't need to understand anything.

[E]

The Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. To get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter and find us on Instagram @downdownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org. The Slowdown is written by me, Maggie Smith. The show is produced by Micah Kielbon and Maria Wurtel. Our music is composed by Kyle Andrews, engineering by Derek Ramirez and Maurizio Dirico. Our editor and digital producer is Jordan Turgen. Additional production help by Susanna Sharpless, Ruby Sigmund and Lauren Humpert. APM's Director of Distribution is Amy Lundgren, and our president is Chandra Kavati.

[F]

Hey, it's Francis Lamb, host of the Splendid Table podcast. Every week on our show we celebrate the intersection of food and life, and this month we're releasing a new series called Culinary Masters. It highlights some of the most iconic people in the food world, and we're revisiting conversations with people who have fundamentally changed how many of us cook and think about food, people like Jacques Pepin, Claudia Rodin and Tony Bourdain, to name a few. You can listen to this special series now. Just search for the Splendid Table in your podcast app.